Getting Ready for Father's Day

This year, I couldn't think of any good ideas for Father's Day.  Saunders had done such a good job on Mother's Day this year that the pressure was really on, and I had no good ideas!  Also, about 2 weeks before Father's Day, Saunders told me that he'd already bought his own present - a new gun holster!  So, that took the option of thinking of an awesome gift out of the equation, too.  (We did get him several small things, though.)  So, I was stumped.

I went to my mom and Jillian for help, and they helped me brainstorm a lot of good ideas.  I finally settled on a dessert for breakfast theme.  We were going to have waffles with ice cream and bananas... sort of an ice cream sundae meets breakfast combo.  Then, we'd have all the toppings for a make-your-own sundae bar!  The kids got very excited about this idea.  We went shopping for all the ingredients and spent several afternoons making decorations for Father's Day!

 

 

We also made all-about-Daddy books.  The kids filled in the blanks and drew pictures to illustrate.  They were cute and funny!  Katie Anne put a lot of thought into hers and got lots of answers right about Daddy... but she did guess that Daddy weighed 40 pounds!  SJ's answers were hilarious... most of them were "bank" and "eat eat!"  According to him, Daddy works and eats and works and eats!

Sun Catcher Art Project

Today, we made a fun sun catcher project.  Trisha and Carlton gave this project to the kids a few weeks ago, and they loved doing it! 

 Each kid made one sun catcher for their own room, and then they made one each for Caroline's room and one each for Lori's room.  

Katie Anne did an awesome job!  She is so crafty.  Her sun catchers looked beautiful.

SJ worked really hard and did a lot better than I thought.  He was very careful and didn't make much of a mess, and his looked really good!

In the oven, baking away!

All finished - they look awesome!  The unicorn is KA's to keep, and she made the puppy for Caroline and the crown for Lori.  The "Lightning McQueen" car is for SJ to keep, and he made the horse for Caroline and the rocket for Lori.

I didn't get a picture of SJ with his finished products because he was already napping by the time they'd cooled, but KA was proud to show her creations off!

The kids can't wait to give their sun catchers to their cousins!

Silk Dyed Easter Eggs

Katie Anne and I tried a new way of dyeing Easter Eggs this year.  I'd seen the idea for using old silk neckties to die Easter Eggs, and KA and I thought that sounded like a lot of fun.  So, we headed off to the Goodwill in search of cheap silk ties!  We found quite a collection and brought them home with us.

We cut the ties into pieces and wrapped them tightly around the still-raw eggs.  This was careful work, and KA did a great job at it!

 

Once the eggs were all wrapped up, we were ready to put them into the water and boil them!

When the eggs were all cool, we unwrapped them to see what the transfer from the silk to the eggs had been.  We thought the results were pretty neat, and we definitely enjoyed the fun project together!

Outside Fun & A New Project

Today, Katie Anne and I started on a new project that I'd been wanting to do for awhile.  Katie Anne loves to play Angry Birds on my iPad, so I thought she would love to play an Angry Birds game outside with cans.  I thought this is a game that SJ could play, too.  Katie Anne and I have been saving veggie cans.  We went and picked out our colors of spray paint, and we were ready to get started.  (We also picked out a red ball and Krylon paint for plastics, but that part of the project didn't work out.  The paint stayed sticky and never dried, so Daddy found a great Angry Birds ball at Toys R Us that worked even better!)

  Oh so sunny!

 We started by painting the center of the cans light green - this was for the pigs' faces.

 

 While KA and I worked, Daddy and SJ played outside.  SJ got this riding toy from Gigi and Granddad for Christmas, and he loves it.

 

 He also took a turn on his motorcycle, or his 'cycle as he calls it.  We gave him this for Christmas, and he loves it, too! I knew he'd love all these riding toys once the weather warmed up.

While we waited on the cans to dry, KA rode her bike.

 The kids love being outside!

  The kids and Daddy started getting more daring, and they wanted to ride this toy really fast down the driveway.  Mommy had to be the responsible lame parent and insist that everyone who rode down the hill wear a helmet.

 Since SJ does everything that Sissy does - and we don't have any boy helmets yet - that meant SJ had to ride in a Disney princess helmet!

 SJ says he doesn't care - real men wear pink!

I worked for a few more sessions on our Angry Birds cans (this turned out to be more of a Mommy project with all that spray painting), and then we were ready to play a few days later!

Our finished cans:

Angry Birds fun!

Valentine's Day Fun!

We had a great Valentine's Day this year! 

Earlier in the month, I made the kids special outfits to wear to their Valentine's parties.  Here they are, modeling their cute new looks!

 Katie Anne and I had fun making valentines for friends and teachers that we'd seen on Pinterest!

SJ had some cute valentines to hand out to his friends at school, too!

Katie Anne and I also made a wax heart project that we'd seen on Pinterest.  We used the hearts we made to decorate the windows in the breakfast room.

Opening special Valentine's treats from Mommy and Daddy!

 On Valentine's Day, the kids wore their cute outfits to school for their parties.

What a handsome boy!

 What a pretty girl!